


Doctor Culber's favourite patient

by wildorange



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Caring Hugh Culber, Culmets - Freeform, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Sickfic, sick Paul Stamets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29742579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildorange/pseuds/wildorange
Summary: Even brilliant scientists get sick sometimes and need a doctor to care for them
Relationships: Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets
Comments: 9
Kudos: 33





	Doctor Culber's favourite patient

**Author's Note:**

> All the mistakes are mine, the characters are not.  
> Enjoy :)

“Sir… could you have a look at my code calculations regarding the spread of the mycelium network...” Cadet Tilly called her superior softly.

“I think I made another mistake….” Her voice trailed off again. All morning the lieutenant had been in a terrible mood barking at every little mistake one of his subordinates made.

“What’s the matter this time?” Paul Stamets snapped, looking up from his own calculations. The harsh blue light of the engineering room shot a sharp pain through his eyes and into his head. All morning the throbbing in his head that had started out as dull pain had intensified into an almost all consuming headache. In the beginning he had been able to wave it off as the result of a restless night, but now it was, 1231 hours and he was barely able to focus on anything beside the pain in his head and his aching joints.  
With a deep sigh he made his way to Tilly’s desk. It took him a few seconds to make his eyes focus on the light blue lines of code in front of him. He scrolled through the error log without success.

“Maybe I made a mistake earlier that only shows now. Or it might have been an error propagation from my merged calculations.” Tilly’s shy murmur was close to his ear. Usually he didn’t mind her nervous chatter but today it irritated him only further.

“If you can’t even merge two simple sets of codes, why are you in my lab, cadet!”

“I’m sorry, sir” Tilly’s hurt expression made him realise that he had been too harsh.

“No, I’m sorry Cadet, that was harsh of me.” he sighed again and closed his eyes for a moment. This day couldn’t be over fast enough. He looked up and turned to the room. Everyone apart for Burnham and Tilly had already left for their lunch break.

“You can go and have lunch now, I’ll have a look at your calculations.”  
With a relieved expression she murmured a thank you and quietly left the room. He returned to her long lines of code trying to focus his eyes on the bright projection. For a brief moment the room started to spin and a sharp pain shot through his head. He closed his eyes taking a deep breath then slowly releasing it again.

“Sir, are you feeling okay?” Michael Burnham’s voice seemed far too loud. Paul hadn’t realised that she had not left for lunch with Tilly. He looked at her irritated.

“I’m fine. Go to lunch.”

“With all due respect, you don’t look well, sir. Should I call Doctor Culber?” Burnham’s voice was laced with concern that felt more like pity to him. Her offer was tempting. Right now he wanted nothing more than to lie down next to his doctor but of course he would never admit that in front of his subordinates nor did he want to concern Hugh with a ‘small’ headache.

“How I look is none of your concern. No need for Doctor Culber.” he snapped at her instead.

“Go now!” He tried to make it sound final, like an order. Burnham only nodded and left as well.

Finally the room turned quiet. With another deep sigh he sat down on the steps leading up to the large door that separated his lab from the rest of the ship. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the bannister. The cool metal against his flushed cheeks brought slight relief for his throbbing headache. He tried to conjure the lines of code before his inner eye. But what was usually no problem posed an impossible challenge today. The lines went in and out of focus, dancing on the inside of his closed eyelids making him slightly dizzy. After a few seconds he gave up and decided to come back to the code later. Right now he needed to think about something pleasant. His mind went to Hugh and the last shoreleave they had been on and he allowed himself to wander through the memories of a relaxing weekend.  
With a hiss the door to engineering opened bringing Paul harshly back into reality. He forced his eyes to open but the bright light that flooded engineering immediately shot searing pain through his head. He squinted at the figure standing by the door. Relief spread through him as the figure turned into Hugh when his eyes finally focused.

“Paul, it’s lunch time. Are you coming to the canteen with me?” Hugh’s soft voice sounded like it was spoken through a thick layer of cotton wool.

“I’m not hungry. I’ll stay here and run through the code again.” he hoped his voice wouldn’t betray him. At the thought of lunch Paul’s stomach twisted unpleasantly.

Hugh took a step closer. Looking at his boyfriend he could clearly make out the dark circle beneath his eyes. Paul’s already pale skin had taken on an ashen tone.

“Goodness me, Burnham was right. You look awful!”

“Thanks. Did she tell you to check on me?” The tone made it clear that it was an accusation. Doctor Culbur just rolled his eyes. Paul’s moods were best dealt with by ignoring them. Instead of answering he countered with a question: “Are you feeling alright?”  
“I’m fine. I just didn’t sleep well, nothing to worry about.” Paul answered curtly. Somehow he wanted Hugh to stay and leave him alone at the same time. Luckily the doctor wasn’t so easily deterred.

“You don’t look fine. Let me have a closer look at you.” he said.

“Don’t you have better things to do?”

Hugh sighed. Paul could be a difficult person at the best of times but when he was this cranky there was usually something wrong. Loss of appetite, seeing him squint at the light which meant he might have sore eyes combined with his flushed cheeks could mean he was running a temperature, Hugh summarised. He squatted down next to him and put his hand on Paul’s forehead. It felt damp and hot and he could feel him shiver below his hand. He pulled back to sit down next to him.

“I think you have a fever.” he said softly.

“No, I told you I’m fine” Paul grumbled but it didn’t sound convincing. Hugh put an arm around his boyfriend, pulled him close and placed a soft kiss on his temples.

“No you’re not and we both know that.” he whispered and after a brief pause added: “Let’s get you home.”

“Fine…” Paul admitted defeated and with a sigh he mumbled: “I couldn’t concentrate anyway.” Hugh got up and stretched out a hand but he was too proud to take it. Instead he pulled himself up gripping the bannister. Hugh could see that Paul was trying to blink away some dizziness that must have come from getting up too fast. Quickly he slid his arm around his waist to stabilize him. Paul’s head landed softly on his shoulder.

“Thank you, doctor.” he whispered and Hugh could feel his smile against his neck.

“Everything for my favourite patient… Come on.”  
They made their way to their quarters through the long corridors of the Discovery. On deck three they passed Michael Burnham on her way back down to engineering.

“Burnham'' Doctor Culber called. She turned around and looked at the couple.

“Thank you for alerting me. Lieutenant Stamets won’t be returning to work today.”  
She nodded with a half smile and walked away quickly pretending not to see the embarrassed look that had crept onto her superior’s face as his partner spoke for him.  
After what felt like an eternity to Paul they finally reached their quarters. Hugh pressed his hand onto the scanner. With a hiss the door to their room slid open. Since it was 1245 hours bright light filled it. He could feel Paul flinch.

“Lights to 30%” he quickly told the computer.  
Paul sat down on the end of their bed peeling himself out of his tight uniform jacket. It was obvious that he was exhausted. A thin line of perspiration had gathered on his forehead and his limbs felt like they were filled with lead. Hugh knelt down next to him to help him out of his shoes. With a deep sigh Paul let himself fall backwards onto the soft mattress. He stretched out his hand toward Hugh.

“I have to scan you, you know that. We need to know it isn’t anything serious. I’ll go get my scanner.”

“Hmmmm. Don’t go. You’re still on your lunch break.” he now patted the bed beside him “and I need some cuddles.”  
A smile spread across the doctor’s face. Sometimes a sick Paul brought a lovely change from the usually no-nonsense scientist he knew and loved.

“Okay, but only for a few minutes.” he threw himself down next to his boyfriend who had turned on his side in order to be the little spoon. Hugh moved closer until his nose found Paul’s neck where he placed a soft kiss. He put his arm around his boyfriend’s waist and pulled him even closer.

“Hmmm, that’s better… I love you”

“I love you too, honey.”

Slowly their breathing synchronized and after a few minutes Hugh could hear that Paul’s breaths had turned into the deep rhythm of sleep. Carefully he got up and pulled a blanket over his boyfriend. He decided to go straight to the med-bay, get his manual scanner and if nothing serious would show up he would take the afternoon off. He couldn’t help but smile at the view of the usually tight-lipped scientist wrapped into a soft blanket with the peaceful expression much needed sleep brought him.

**Author's Note:**

> I literally wrote this today because I'm obsessed with Disco rn but I've only seen season 1 so can't read most of the non-au fanfic because I'm afraid of spoilers, so I had to write one for myself. Also I couldn't immediately find a culmet sickfic but since I need that sweet sweet hurt/comfort I just had to put my favourite astomycologist into a this situation.


End file.
